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Tomie dePaola's the cloud book
Some people see animals and pictures in clouds. The ancient Greeks believed that Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, once stole the sun's cattle, which were clouds. In this picture book, Tomie dePaola introduces some of the most common types of clouds, as well as the myths and legends inspired by their shapes.\"--Provided by publisher.
Book
On the Roles of Precipitation and Entrainment in Stratocumulus Transitions between Mesoscale States
Stratocumulus occur in closed- or open-cell states, which tend to be associated with high or low cloud cover and the absence or presence of precipitation, respectively. Thus, the transition between these states has substantial implications for the role of this cloud type in Earth’s radiation budget. In this study, we analyze transitions between these states using an ensemble of 127 large-eddy simulations, covering a wide range of conditions. Our analysis is focused on the behavior of these clouds in a cloud fraction ( f c ) scene albedo ( A ) phase space, which has been shown in previous studies to be a useful framework for interpreting system behavior. For the transition from closed to open cells, we find that precipitation creates narrower clouds and scavenges cloud droplets for all f c . However, precipitation decreases the cloud depth for f c > 0.8 only, causing a rapid decrease in A . For f c < 0.8, the cloud depth actually increases due to mesoscale organization of the cloud field. As the cloud deepening balances the effects of cloud droplet scavenging in terms of influence on A , changes in A are determined by the decreasing f c only, causing a linear decrease in A for f c < 0.8. For the transition from open to closed cells, we find that longwave radiative cooling drives the cloud development, with cloud widening dominating for f c < 0.5. For f c > 0.5, clouds begin to deepen gradually due to the decreasing efficiency of lateral expansion. The smooth switch between cloud widening and deepening leads to a more gentle change in A compared to the transitions under precipitating conditions.
Journal Article
Clouds
Explains how clouds form and profiles different varieties while outlining a range of outdoor-themed activities.
Book
Observations of Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, and Surface Radiation over the Southern Ocean
Weather and climate models are challenged by uncertainties and biases in simulating Southern Ocean (SO) radiative fluxes that trace to a poor understanding of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative processes, and their interactions. Projects between 2016 and 2018 used in situ probes, radar, lidar, and other instruments to make comprehensive measurements of thermodynamics, surface radiation, cloud, precipitation, aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and ice nucleating particles over the SO cold waters, and in ubiquitous liquid and mixed-phase clouds common to this pristine environment. Data including soundings were collected from the NSF–NCAR G-V aircraft flying north–south gradients south of Tasmania, at Macquarie Island, and on the R/V Investigator and RSV Aurora Australis. Synergistically these data characterize boundary layer and free troposphere environmental properties, and represent the most comprehensive data of this type available south of the oceanic polar front, in the cold sector of SO cyclones, and across seasons. Results show largely pristine environments with numerous small and few large aerosols above cloud, suggesting new particle formation and limited long-range transport from continents, high variability in CCN and cloud droplet concentrations, and ubiquitous supercooled water in thin, multilayered clouds, often with small-scale generating cells near cloud top. These observations demonstrate how cloud properties depend on aerosols while highlighting the importance of dynamics and turbulence that likely drive heterogeneity of cloud phase. Satellite retrievals confirmed low clouds were responsible for radiation biases. The combination of models and observations is examining how aerosols and meteorology couple to control SO water and energy budgets.
Journal Article
Clouds
\"Readers will learn about how clouds are made and why they are important to life on Earth. This title is informative yet simple. Big text and simple sentences combined with vibrant photographs will entertain readers, teach them scientific facts, and strengthen their reading skills\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The important roles of surface tension and growth rate in the contribution of new particle formation number concentration: evidence from field measurements in southern China
The contribution of new particle formation (NPF) to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration (N.sub.CCN) varies largely under different environments and depends on several key factors such as formation rate (J), growth rate (GR), distribution of preexisting particles, and properties of new particles during NPF events. This study investigates the contribution of NPF to the N.sub.CCN and its controlling factors based on measurements conducted at the Heshan supersite, in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China during fall 2019. The size-resolved cloud condensation nuclei activity and size-resolved particle hygroscopicity were measured by a cloud condensation nuclei counter (CCNc) and a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA), respectively, along with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and a diethylene glycol scanning mobility particle sizer (DEG-SMPS) for particle number size distribution (PNSD). A typical NPF event on 29 October was chosen to investigate the contribution of the NPF to N.sub.CCN under several supersaturation (SS) ratios. Two particle properties (hygroscopicity and surface tension) affect CCN activation with the latter being more important in terms of the CCN concentration (N.sub.CCN). A lower value of surface tension (i.e., 0.06 N m.sup.-1) than the pure-water assumption (0.073 N m.sup.-1) could increase the N.sub.CCN at SS = 1.0 % by about 20 % during the nonevent period and by about 40 % during the event. In addition, an earlier peak time corresponding to a lower critical diameter (D.sub.50) was also observed. The results show that high formation rate, growth rate, and low background particle concentration lead to high number concentrations of newly formed particles. The high growth rate was found to have the most significant impact on the N.sub.CCN, which can be attributed to the fact that a higher growth rate can grow particles to the CCN size in a shorter time before they are scavenged by preexisting particles. Two other NPF events (an event on 18 October in this campaign and an event on 12 December 2014 in Panyu) were chosen to perform sensitivity tests under different scenarios (growth rate, formation rate, and background particle concentration). The calculated N.sub.CCN at SS = 1.0 % on 12 December 2014 was significantly lower than that from the other two events. The event on 12 December was re-simulated using the growth rate taken from the event on 18 October which resulted in similar CCN concentrations between the two events (12 December and 18 October), implying that the growth rate is the major impact factor for CCN activation. Our results highlight the importance of growth rate and surface tension when evaluating the contribution of NPF to the N.sub.CCN.
Journal Article
The cloud book : words and pictures
Introduces the ten most common types of clouds, the myths that have been inspired by their shapes, and what they can tell about coming weather changes.
Book
Response of Arctic mixed-phase clouds to aerosol perturbations under different surface forcings
The formation and persistence of low-lying mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) in the Arctic depends on a multitude of processes, such as surface conditions, the environmental state, air mass advection, and the ambient aerosol concentration. In this study, we focus on the relative importance of different instantaneous aerosol perturbations (cloud condensation nuclei and ice-nucleating particles; CCN and INPs, respectively) on MPC properties in the European Arctic. To address this topic, we performed high-resolution large-eddy simulation (LES) experiments using the Consortium for Small-scale Modeling (COSMO) model and designed a case study for the Aerosol-Cloud Coupling and Climate Interactions in the Arctic (ACCACIA) campaign in March 2013. Motivated by ongoing sea ice retreat, we performed all sensitivity studies over open ocean and sea ice to investigate the effect of changing surface conditions. We find that surface conditions highly impact cloud dynamics, consistent with the ACCACIA observations: over sea ice, a rather homogeneous, optically thin, mixed-phase stratus cloud forms. In contrast, the MPC over the open ocean has a stratocumulus-like cloud structure. With cumuli feeding moisture into the stratus layer, the cloud over the open ocean features a higher liquid (LWP) and ice water path (IWP) and has a lifted cloud base and cloud top compared to the cloud over sea ice. Furthermore, we analyzed the aerosol impact on the sea ice and open ocean cloud regime. Perturbation aerosol concentrations relevant for CCN activation were increased to a range between 100 and 1000 cm−3 and ice-nucleating particle perturbations were increased by 100 % and 300 % compared to the background concentration (at every grid point and at all levels). The perturbations are prognostic to allow for fully interactive aerosol–cloud interactions. Perturbations in the INP concentration increase IWP and decrease LWP consistently in both regimes. The cloud microphysical response to potential CCN perturbations occurs faster in the stratocumulus regime over the ocean, where the increased moisture flux favors rapid cloud droplet formation and growth, leading to an increase in LWP following the aerosol injection. In addition, IWP increases through new ice crystal formation by increased immersion freezing, cloud top rise, and subsequent growth by deposition. Over sea ice, the maximum response in LWP and IWP is delayed and weakened compared to the response over the open ocean surface. Additionally, we find the long-term response to aerosol perturbations to be highly dependent on the cloud regime. Over the open ocean, LWP perturbations are efficiently buffered after 18 h simulation time. Increased ice and precipitation formation relax the LWP back to its unperturbed range. On the contrary, over sea ice the cloud evolution remains substantially perturbed with CCN perturbations ranging from 200 to 1000 CCN cm−3.
Journal Article
The cloudspotter's guide
This title teaches readers to appreciate the different varieties of clouds - the cumulus, nimbostratus and Morning Glory - and all their beauties and significances, both meteorological and cultural.
Book
Aerosol–Cloud Interaction in Deep Convective Clouds over the Indian Peninsula Using Spectral (Bin) Microphysics
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model coupled with a spectral bin microphysics (SBM) scheme is used to investigate aerosol effects on cloud microphysics and precipitation over the Indian peninsular region. The main emphasis of the study is in comparing simulated cloud microphysical structure with in situ aircraft observations from the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX). Aerosol–cloud interaction over the rain-shadow region is investigated with observed and simulated size distribution spectra of cloud droplets and ice particles in monsoon clouds. It is shown that size distributions as well as other microphysical characteristics obtained from simulations such as liquid water content, cloud droplet effective radius, cloud droplet number concentration, and thermodynamic parameters are in good agreement with the observations. It is seen that in clouds with high cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations, snow and graupel size distribution spectra were broader compared to clouds with low concentrations of CCN, mainly because of enhanced riming in the presence of a large number of droplets with a diameter of 10–30 μm. The Hallett–Mossop ice multiplication process is illustrated to have an impact on snow and graupel mass. The changes in CCN concentrations have a strong effect on cloud properties over the domain, amounts of cloud water, and the glaciation of the clouds, but the effects on surface precipitation are small when averaged over a large area. Overall enhancement of cold-phase cloud processes in the high-CCN case contributed to slight enhancement (5%) in domain-averaged surface precipitation.
Journal Article